Setting Your Stage ~ Sarah Sundin

More than a Stage—Use Your Setting to Illumine Your Story

by Sarah Sundin

“The British are coming! The British are coming!” (Or “The regulars are coming!” for my historian friends.) When you hear those words, what do you picture? Boston, Paul Revere, the brink of the Revolutionary War in 1775. How can those elements be used in a novel set in 1941?

Plot, characters, and setting work together to create novels that come alive. Most of us writers love plot and characters, and the setting is merely a stage they perform on. But setting can be so much more—it can create mood, echo external conflict, and highlight internal growth.

Choosing Your Setting

The initial choice of setting is usually driven by that story spark. We already know it’s set on the prairie in the 1880s or an English manor in 1815 or a modern-day big city. My Waves of Freedom series required an East Coast city that had a large naval base and a naval shipyard during World War II.

Personal preferences often fine-tune our options. We choose the specific manor or village or city because it’s someplace we’ve visited or want to visit, or it meets story requirements. For me, Boston, New York, and Charleston were my main options—and I’ve visited Boston frequently. When my historical research revealed Boston was a base for destroyers and a site for naval antisubmarine warfare research in WWII, I knew I had my location.

So Much More

Very clever writers deliberately choose a setting to highlight aspects of plot, characters, and theme. For those of us who are less clever, we can still use our chosen setting in the same way.

As I began to write Through Waters Deep, I enjoyed playing on my Bostonian playground. So much history! So picturesque! Great foods! But then I noticed similarities between Boston’s revolutionary past and my story. That’s when the real fun began.

Create Mood

An open expanse of prairie—does it represent freedom and the pioneering spirit, or isolation and loneliness? A forest of skyscrapers—does it represent energy and opportunity, or claustrophobia and danger?

It’s all in how we write it. The same setting can represent different things at different times in the story.

Look for elements of the setting you can use to create mood. Even better, play with ways the same element can be used in different scenes. In Through Waters Deep, when Mary Stirling is at work at the Boston Navy Yard, the massive cranes give her a sense of industriousness and purpose. But when she’s alone on the docks at night, the cranes feel menacing.

Echo External Conflict

Every setting comes with history and lore and landmarks. For an imaginary setting, you should invent history and lore and landmarks. Find or create those elements that echo the conflict in your story.

For me, it happened by accident. My characters were having a “getting reacquainted” chat while exploring Boston from Paul Revere’s house to the Old North Church—simply because I liked the walk. But as they studied Paul Revere’s statue, I was struck by the similarities between 1775 and 1941.

In both years, America teetered on the brink of war and faced a difficult decision—do we continue life as before, or do we fight for freedom? In both years, America was bitterly divided—Patriots vs. Tories in 1775, isolationists vs. interventionists in 1941. In both years, Americans debated England’s motives.

Since this conflict drove my book’s action plotlines, I decided to use the Boston’s revolutionary scenery to underscore the tumult in America in 1941.

Highlight Internal Growth

Symbols are a powerful way to show our character’s internal conflict and growth. Those symbols become more meaningful when they arise from the setting. The rosebushes at the English manor that blossom while the heroine grows—and wilt at her black moment. The bridge over the creek in the small Southern town that shows the hero’s determination to become a new man.

In Through Waters Deep, Mary Stirling passes the Bunker Hill Monument every day on her way to work. The memorial to those brave, outnumbered soldiers represents Mary’s own battle to overcome her fears and do the right thing.

From Stage to Playground

So what about you? What elements make your setting unique or memorable? How can you use those elements to illumine your story?

Sarah Sundin is the author of seven historical novels, including Through Waters Deep (Revell, August 2015). Her novel On Distant Shores was a double finalist for the 2014 Golden Scroll Awards. In 2011, Sarah received the Writer of the Year Award at the Mount Hermon Christian Writers Conference. A mother of three, Sarah lives in northern California, works on-call as a hospital pharmacist, and teaches Sunday school and women’s Bible studies. She also enjoys speaking for church, community, or writers’ groups. You can find her at http://www.sarahsundin.com

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Tis the Season to Collaborate

How Story Collaboration Works

Tricia Goyer, Cara Putman, and Sarah Sundin, authors of Where Treetops Glisten

Sometimes being an author is a lonely existence. Fictional characters fill my (Sarah’s) mind. They fight, they laugh, they talk, they fall in love ... and for most of the time I’m the only one who knows what’s happening with them. That is until I enter their world, and their words and experiences land on the page to eventually be sent to my editor’s desk. Still it’s my computer and me, lonely partners in the world of creating stories.

This isn’t the case for collaboration projects. Tricia’s written a number of them from Love Finds You novels with her friend Ocieanna Fleiss and two World War II spy novels with Mike Yorkey. Cara’s collaborated on two novella collections for Barbour. Now the three of us have partnered for a World War II Christmas novella collection, Where Treetops Glisten.

Because the writing process is so different when writing novella collections, we have a few recommendations for those considering a collaborative collection.

1. Understand the strengths and the weaknesses of your collaborators. No one person writes a novel in the same way. Tricia is a write-by-the-seats-of-her-pants type of author, Sarah runs off of spreadsheets, and Cara was the connecter and lead researcher for us all. Through a few calls and many emails we figured out a system that worked. We leaned on each other, depending on each other’s strengths to create a unique collection.

2. When collaborating, look for the elements readers expect from each of you, and focus on combining them. We had all agreed we wanted to work together, but then we had to decide how. We started with a conference call where we specifically discussed what we believe each of our readers like in our books. Fortunately, we could weave those together into a collection tied by location, family, and home front careers plus a sister who goes overseas.

3. Look for a theme and other elements that can tie the series together. Our initial theme was Christmas carols. So many wonderful carols were penned and released during World War II, songs that we cherish today. Then we decided that our story would center on siblings and their experiences during the war – each in a different year. After that we decided their wise grandmother would hold the collection together through a prologue and epilogue in her point of view, as well as her presence in each of the novellas. She became the voice of wisdom to each grandchild at the moment they needed it. She also became a fun, feisty lady who added spark and sass to the pages.

4. Evaluate what you’re willing to give up for the good of the project. In our case we were able to pull everything together…but you have to be willing to give as well for the good of the story. That means asking others for input on their characters to make sure they are consistent from story to story and that you’re willing to acknowledge when you need help.

5. Organize your information. Since our stories followed one family from 1941 to 1945, many details flowed through each story. Cara drew up a floor plan of the home we used for the Turner family. Sarah kept a master timeline listing dates of births, deaths, weddings, graduations, military training, and pertinent WWII events. Likewise, a character chart tracked physical traits, quirks, nicknames, etc. Our editors also found those documents useful.

6. Communication. Not only did we communicate in the brainstorming and proposal-writing phases, but during writing and editing, and now doing publicity. We sent lots of emails: “Who would Abigail want in her wedding party?” “What would Pete be doing now?” “What would Merry be feeling?” “Is there a garage on the property? If not, where do they park the car?” Not only was communication vital for story flow, but it built our friendships and our appreciation for each other.

Collaboration is a wonderful addition to the writing experience. If you can find the right concept and the right friends to write with, then we highly recommend it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Cara C. Putman, the award-winning author of 19 books, graduated high school at 16, college at 20, and completed her law degree at 27. FIRST for Women magazine called Shadowed by Grace “captivating” and a “novel with ‘the works.’” Cara is active at her church and a lecturer on business and employment law to graduate students at Purdue University’s Krannert School of Management. Putman also practices law and is a second-generation homeschooling mom. Putman is currently pursuing her Master’s in Business Administration at Krannert. She serves on the executive board of American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW), an organization she has served in various roles since 2007. She lives with her husband and four children in Indiana.

Sarah Sundin is the author of six historical novels, including In Perfect Time (Revell, August 2014), plus a novella in Where Treetops Glisten (WaterBrook, September 2014). Her novel On Distant Shores was a double finalist for the 2014 Golden Scroll Awards. In 2011, Sarah received the Writer of the Year Award at the Mount Hermon Christian Writers Conference. Sarah lives in northern California with her husband and three children, and she works on-call as a hospital pharmacist and teaches Sunday school and women’s Bible studies. You can find her at

USA Today best-selling author Tricia Goyer is the author of 45 books, including the three-book Seven Brides for Seven Bachelors series. She has written over 500 articles for national publications and blogs for high traffic sites like TheBetterMom.com and MomLifeToday.com. Tricia and her husband John live in Little Rock, Arkansas. They have six amazing children, a wonderful daughter-in-law, and two adorable grandchildren.

Learn more about the authors!

Cara Putman

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Sarah Sundin

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Tricia Goyer

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Salting the Oats ~ Writing a Series that Keeps Readers Wanting More ~ by Sarah Sundln

The Continuing Story—Writing a Series that Grips Readers

By Sarah Sundin

Nothing makes an author happier than to hear, “I can’t wait for your next book!” One way to build anticipation is with a book series. Readers enjoy series for a sense of community and familiarity. Also, many publishers prefer series, especially in certain genres. Although sales for the second and third book will always be lower—after all, how many series do you start reading and not finish?—each book release bumps up sales for earlier titles, leading to an overall longer shelf-life.

As a writer, a series allows you to develop a rich cast of characters and to get more mileage out of your research. For example, I had to do a lot of research on B-17 bombers for my Wings of Glory series, but I used it for three novels.

When planning a series, the author must decide what will tie the stories together and how closely to connect the novels. Note: I use a three-book series for an example, but series can run shorter or longer.

Ties That Bind

The device that binds your series must be grand enough to carry three complete novels. The most commonly used devices include family, friends, a profession, a location, an event—or a combination. My Wings of the Nightingale series follows three friends who serve as WWII flight nurses (profession) in the Mediterranean (location).

How Closely Connected?

Series run the spectrum from strongly connected to loosely connected. The far end of the extreme includes sequels, when the series tells one long story divided into several novels (Lord of the Rings).

There isn’t a right or a wrong way to construct a series. As a writer, consider what your stories require, but be aware of the pros and cons.

1. Strongly Connected Series

Pros:

• Readers feel a sense of community or family.
• Readers feel compelled to read the next book to find out what happens.
• Writers can develop the characters, setting, or situation more intensely.

Cons:

• Readers can feel “conned” into reading another book and resent it, especially if the first novel ends in a cliffhanger.
• Readers who inadvertently enter the series in book 2 or book 3 can feel lost—and cheated.
• If the writer doesn’t rehash earlier books, the reader can feel disoriented, especially if time has passed between release dates.
• If the writer rehashes too much, readers can feel bored or annoyed, especially if they read the books within a short period of time.

2. Loosely Connected Series

Pros:

• Readers can jump into the series at any point and not feel lost.
• Easier to plot for the writer. Each book completely stands alone.

Cons:

• If characters from one book don’t interact with characters from the other books, no sense of community develops.
• Reading book 1 may not drive the reader to read book 2.
• Readers don’t have a sense of anticipation to find out what happens to their favorite characters.

3. Middle-of-the-Road Series

What I’ve chosen (it isn’t right or wrong, it just works for me) is for each novel to tell a complete story, including the heroes/heroines of the earlier/later novels as side characters. When done carefully, the middle-of-the-road approach can reap many of the benefits of both closely and loosely connected series. The reader can experience a sense of community and feel compelled to read the entire series, but not feel lost if they start in the “wrong” place.

Tips:

• Give each book an emotionally satisfying ending for the characters. Unfinished storylines should be related to the series set-up. For example, the Wings of the Nightingale series runs from 1942-45, so the story of World War II and the role of the flight nurses isn’t concluded until the last book.
• In book 1, include scenes with the characters from books 2 and 3—or at least talk about them. Drop enough hints so the reader says, “I want to know what makes her tick.” But leave some mystery.
• In books 2 and 3, revisit earlier characters. Readers love to see the story continue. In romances, this allows you to show weddings and babies!
• However, resist the urge to reminisce. Use snippets to remind the returning reader—and maybe hook the new reader. In In Perfect Time (Book 3 of Wings of the Nightingale), Kay Jobson attends the wedding of the main characters from Book 1, With Every Letter. Kay thinks, “Who would have thought when Kay had transferred anonymous letters between Mellie and Tom that they’d end up married?” No long rehash of the plot—just a snippet.
• In books 2 and 3, include enough background about the situation or setting to orient the new reader, but not so much as to annoy the returning reader. Since the Nightingale series follows flight nurses, each book needed to describe how air evacuation was conducted. This balance can be tricky.
• Ration your material. When plotting the Nightingale series, I made sure I didn’t use all my best flight nursing story ideas in the first book and run up dry in the third.
• If possible when writing books 2 and 3, find some critique partners who have read the first book—and some who haven’t.

With planning and consideration for the reader, you can create a series that grips your readers and won’t let them go!

What do you like or dislike about series? What tips would you include?

About Sarah’s latest, In Perfect Time:

World War II flight nurse Lt. Kay Jobson collects hearts wherever she flies, but C-47 pilot Lt. Roger Cooper seems immune to her charms. Still, as they cross the skies between Italy and southern France, evacuating the wounded and delivering paratroopers and supplies, every beat of their hearts draws them closer.

Sarah Sundin is the author of The Wings of the Nightingale series and Wings of Glory series. In 2011, A Memory Between Us was a finalist in the Inspirational Reader’s Choice Awards, and Sundin received the Writer of the Year Award at the Mount Hermon Christian Writers Conference. On Distant Shores was a finalist for the Golden Scroll Award from both the Advanced Writers and Speakers Association (AWSA) and the Christian Authors Network (CAN). She belongs to American Christian Fiction Writers, CAN and AWSA. Sundin plans to continue to focus on World War II for her upcoming Waves of Freedom series about three naval officers based in Boston.

A graduate of UC San Francisco School of Pharmacy, Sundin works on-call as a hospital pharmacist. During WWII, her grandfather served as a pharmacist’s mate (medic) in the Navy, and her great-uncle flew with the US Eighth Air Force in England.

Sundin lives in northern California with her husband and three children. When she isn’t ferrying kids to tennis and karate, she teaches Sunday school and women’s Bible studies.

To keep up with Sarah Sundin, visit www.sarahsundin.com, become a fan on Facebook (SarahSundinAuthor) or follow her on Twitter (@sarahsundin) and Pinterest (sarahsundin).

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FBI Agent Tutorial, What Do They Do? Pete Klismet

What do FBI Agents really do?

by Pete Klismet

One question I’ve been asked by more people than I can count is, “What do FBI Agents do?”  Another frequent one has been, “What is (or was) it like to be an FBI agent?”  

As I recount in the first chapter of my recent book, “FBI Diary: Profiles of Evil,” there is really no set or pat answer to that question.  I’d like to make the answer simple, but I really can’t.  When I received my appointment as a Special Agent in 1979, we had about 183 federal crimes to investigate.  When I retired in 1999, that list was over 270.  I have no clue how long the list is now.

In FBI Diary, I try to answer that question by saying “it depended on which of 59 field divisions you worked in, and to which squad you were assigned. In Los Angeles in the 1980s, I was assigned to an Organized Crime squad. Back then, it meant my squad investigated the Sicilian and Italian Mafia. It was all about gambling, prostitution, labor racketeering and control of the pornography industry, as well as a variety of other criminal activities they engaged in to make a living. We had several undercover operations going, one of which was setting up a pornography distribution business in the San Fernando Valley. Much to our surprise, five Mafia members showed up one day to muscle in on our operation, and we wound up taking out the entire Mafia family in Los Angeles. Eventually dubbed the ‘Mickey Mouse Mafia,’ these characters certainly were prime candidates for ‘Stupid Criminal’ recognition. It’s not usually a good idea to threaten to extort the FBI.”

Other squads in Los Angeles were dedicated to bank robberies, truck hijackings, interstate transportation of stolen property, foreign counterintelligence, white collar crime, and a myriad of other federal violations. Bank robberies in Los Angeles were a plague in the ‘80s, and continue to be. On Christmas Eve of the first year I was in Los Angeles, we had twenty-four, which was then a national record. It’s probably been long-since eclipsed.

As we progressed into the 80’s and 90’s, violent crime and drugs surged to the forefront, and priorities again changed.  The murder rate skyrocketed to over 20,000 in the mid-80’s, with drug gangs fighting for turf and simply because someone happened to be wearing the wrong color shirt or tennis shoes.  Agents were taken off other duties and dedicated to drug task forces, as well as working with local, state and federal officers to stem the tide of violent crime.

And then came the turn of the century.  Priorities changed again.  With the attacks of 9-11, the priorities of the FBI were drastically rearranged.  Agents who had worked criminal cases most of their careers suddenly found themselves trying to adapt to working terrorism.  The transition was difficult, to say the least.  Terrorism cases are an entirely different ball of wax, and I never worked one in over 20 years in the FBI.  We had no training in terrorism when I went through the FBI Academy, because realistically there was only a minimal threat back then.  Suddenly, terrorism became far more than a blip on the radar screen.  I don’t know this for sure, but I’d suspect that about half of all 10,000 FBI agents in the world are dedicated to terrorism full-time.

I did some research to see what the current priorities are now.  They’ve been switched around to where there are now two general categories, which are:

National Security		Criminal
1. Terrorism - International Terrorism - Domestic Terrorism - Weapons of Mass  Destruction 2. Counterintelligence - Counterespionage - Counterproliferation - Economic Espionage 3. Cyber Crime - Computer Intrusions  - Internet Fraud - Identity Theft		4. Public Corruption - Government Fraud - Election Fraud - Foreign Corrupt Practices 5. Civil Rights - Hate Crime - Human Trafficking - Color of Law - Freedom of Access to Clinics 6. Organized Crime - Italian Mafia/LCN - Eurasian - Balkan - Middle Eastern - Asian - African - Sports Bribery	7. White-Collar Crime - Antitrust - Bankruptcy Fraud - Corporate Fraud- Financial Institution Fraud & Failures - Health Care Fraud - Insurance Fraud - Mass Marketing Fraud - Money Laundering - Mortgage Fraud- Piracy/Intellectual Property Theft - Securities and Commodities Fraud - More White-Collar Frauds 8. Violent Crime and Major Thefts
			- Art Theft - Bank Robbery - Cargo Theft - Gangs- Indian Country Crime	- Online Predators - Retail Theft - Vehicle Theft - Violent Crimes Against Children

Many of these areas are specialties unto themselves.  Let’s say an agent is trained to work Cyber Crime.  He or she is going to need some very specific training to understand the federal statutes, and exactly how to conduct an investigation involving computer crimes.  Working and being trained in one of the many areas of White Collar Crime does not translate into a successful transition to Violent Crime, for example.  Everything about the crimes and federal statutes is different.  A former accountant would be more comfortable with White Collar Crime, while an ex-cop like me would transition well into the Violent Crime classifications.  And that’s exactly what I tried to do during my career, with some success.  However, I just happened to be named the 1999 Law Enforcement officer of the year by an international organization for both solving and convicting a group of people who were responsible for over $60 million in fraud.  Fraud?  Me.  Somehow I managed to figure it out, all the time while working in a two man Resident Agency.  Don’t ask me how!

Since this all seems fairly simple, cut and dried, let me throw a wrinkle at you.  There are 56 FBI field offices across the country.  Each has a headquarters city where most agents are assigned.  But, each field office has Resident Agencies, smaller satellite offices which, depending on the size of the area they cover, or the city they are in, can be manned by two to forty agents.  All of the violations you see in the list above can be the responsibility of the agents in those Resident Agencies.  You literally become a jack-of-all-trades, or what’s called a generalist.  You spend a lot of time flying by the seat of your pants, trying to figure out violations you’ve never dealt with before, and aren’t trained to investigate.  How do I know this?  I spent about fifteen of my twenty years in the FBI in RA’s.    If you wonder what I did, and how I survived, that is covered in the first third of FBI Diary.  And then they threw a new wrinkle at me.  If I didn’t have enough to do, and I certainly did, they wanted me to go through profiling training.  And that’s the rest of the story.  If you read the book, you’ll discover how I survived.  Barely!

Pete Klismet served two tours in Vietnam on submarines, attended college in Denver, then was a police officer in Ventura, California for ten years.  He was appointed a Special Agent in 1979 and retired from the FBI in 1999 after 30 total years of law enforcement service.  He was one of the original ‘profilers’ in the FBI, serving in four FBI offices.  He was named the 1999 Law Enforcement Officer of the Year by a national organization.

Having recently retired as a college professor, Pete and his wife Nancy live in Colorado Springs, CO.

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